Man arrested for role in 1982 Guatemalan massacre

May 5, 2010 at 9:23 PM EST - Updated June 20 at 12:47 PM

PALM BEACH COUNTY, FL (WFLX) - A former Guatemalan special forces soldier was arrested Wednesday in Palm Beach County for lying on his natuarlization application about his past foreign military service and specifically his role in a 1982 massacre in Dos Erres, a Guatemalan village.

Gilberto Jordan, 54, of Delray Beach, was taken into custody by ICE special agents as a result of criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court which alleged his unlawfully became a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

The complaint alleges that in November 1982 a Guatemalan guerilla group ambused a military convoy killing soldiers and stealing their weapons. In response to the attack, 20 Guatemalan special forces soldiers were dispatched to Dos Erres to gind out who was behind the attack and retrieve the weapons.

Allegedly, the special forces soldiers raped women and murdered most of the village, including children, by hitting them in the head with items, like hammers, shooting them and then throwing them into the village's well.

A forensic team discovered 162 skeletal remains from the well in Dos Erres.

Several authorities involved in the case have denounced the idea of allowing a human rights violator to become a U.S. citizen.

In 1996, Jordan allegedly applied to naturalize as a U.S. citizen. Under penalty of perjury, Jordan allegedly falsely stated in his naturalization application that he had never committed any crime for which he had not been arrested and he denied past military service.

If convicted on charges of naturalization fraud, Gilberto Jordan faces up to 10 years in prison and revocation of U.S. citizenship upon conviction.